


Stop time and rewind.

by purpleraindr0ps



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Friendship, M/M, Regrets, Uhm, implied!Sehun/Yixing, missed opportunities?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-01 11:43:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18799669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purpleraindr0ps/pseuds/purpleraindr0ps
Summary: Too late, i'm too late.





	Stop time and rewind.

“You do realize that it isn’t going to work, right?” Luhan says bluntly without any preamble the minute Yixing steps over the threshold and into their shared apartment, guitar slung over a shoulder, tossing his keys carelessly on the countertop, the metal hitting the stained wood noisily.  
  
Yixing blinks at him wordlessly for a few quick seconds before leaning his prized instrument against the bright red umbrella stand next to the door, gliding across the cool and smooth marble tiled flooring in his socked feet, plopping down onto the sofa next to the older boy.  
  
  
He grabs a canary yellow mini-pillow and hugs it to his chest, turns to face Luhan. “I’m sorry, what?”  
  
Luhan makes a tsk-ing noise - a small sound of irritation. “This..this thing you have with that Oh Sehun kid,” he pauses, then grimaces – face scrunching up unpleasantly, “whatever it is, it won’t last. You know that, right?”  
  
“What I have with Sehun is not just a thing,” Yixing says – frown deep and a hint of exasperation creeping up his voice. “And no, I don’t know. So maybe you’d like to tell me your stupid reasons why we won’t work?”  
  
“Hey!” Luhan says, offended. “My reasons aren’t stupid.”  
  
Yixing sighs loudly and rolls his eyes. “Whatever you say, Lu.”  
  
“I’m serious, okay,” there’s a slight pout on the elder’s face. “They’re completely legit reasons.”  
  
  
Yixing makes a face at him and a  _‘do go on_ ’ gesture with his hands. “I’m listening. The floor is all yours. You have my utmost and undivided attention Mr Lu.”  
  
Luhan strokes his imaginary moustache and clears his throat dramatically before parting his lips. Yixing rolls his eyes yet again.  
  
  
“Okay, for starters, he’s only a freshman. That means he’s too young – ”  
  
“He’ll be turning eighteen in a few weeks, Luhan.”  
  
“I’m not finished talking yet! I don’t care how old that beanpole is, the thing is, he’s too young for you,” Luhan huffs. “You’re a fucking senior, Xing. A senior whom many people want to fuck. And you go and pick that scrawny freshman?!”  
  
Yixing isn’t sure whether to laugh, or to slap his friend’s face. He settles for a derisive snort. “How the hell does that have anything to do with age?”  
  
“So not the point,” Luhan says haughtily and Yixing arches an eyebrow at that. Wa _sn’t Luhan the one who brought up the age issue in the first place though?_  
  
Luhan barrels on. “I just don’t see why a guy with level 100 fuckability chooses a young and inexperienced toothpick. I mean, seriously? The joke has  _got_ to end, my friend.”  
  
  
Yixing holds out two hands. “Okay woah there. Toothpick? What the hell does that even mean,” he narrows his eyes at the older boy. “And just because he’s young doesn’t necessarily mean he has to be inexperienced, okay.”  
  
Luhan blinks, caught off-guard.  
  
“Well uhm that just says what kind of person he is. Are you  _sure_ you want to be with a playboy like him?” he asks skeptically – shooting the younger a look.  
  
The latter shakes his head exasperatedly. “You’re impossible, Lu. So what’s the second reason as to why I shouldn’t continue dating Sehun. Or are you all out of bullshit?”  
  
Luhan scowls at him and punches him in the forearm. Yixing hisses lightly and retaliates by throwing the pillow in the elder’s face. “Will you grow up already?” he bites out through clenched teeth.  
  
  
Luhan pointedly ignores him. “Oh Sehun is a prickly toothpick. You, Zhang Yixing, are sugary sweetness and sunshine incarnate. You’re the very epitome of all things nice and kind and gentle and fluffy and pure and – and Oh Sehun has a bitch face, has a personality of a bitch,  _is_  a bitch, and just – ” he takes in a breath, “You’re like Mr Perfect and he’s like..urgh. With a capital U.”  
  
He scrunches up his nose to punctuate his sentence. And if Yixing wasn’t so annoyed at the elder’s theatrics, he’d shamelessly coo at how ridiculously cute he looks. But he is. Yixing is very pissed at Luhan and his words. He also wants to puke at the way the other boy described him. He has thorns okay, he isn’t made up of sparkly confetti and rainbow unicorns thank you very much.  
  
  
  
He frowns deeply – sharp arch forming between his brows. “Look, Xiao Lu, you’re my best friend and I love you but..” he looks intently at the older boy. “ _No one_  gets away with talking shit about my boyfriend. Sehun is  _not_  a bitch and if you keep up with that crap, I’ll show you exactly how bitchy  _I_ can get.”  
  
Yixing places his hands on his friend’s shoulders in a gentle but firm grip, leans forward - their noses almost touching, and says seriously – soft brown eyes festering a smoldering black fire.  
  
  
“I mean it, Luhan,” he says softly, burning eyes never leaving the elder’s widened orbs. “Don’t test my patience. Even angels have their limits.”  
  
  
Luhan swallows, hard, unable to look away. His heart has started pumping faster, more intense. He manages to choke out, “B-but you two are so different. Polar opposites. I simply don’t see how – ”  
  
“Opposites attract,” Yixing says nonchalantly – pushes away from the older boy, distance between them more discernable. “That’s what people say, don’t they?”  
  
Luhan lets out a breath he hadn’t noticed he’s been holding. “This isn’t science, Yixing,” there’s an expression of mild frustration on his face. “This isn’t what you see in physics class. This is real life. This is – this is..”  
  
“Love. This is love,” Yixing supplies quietly, an equally quiet smile playing at the edges of his lips.  
  
Luhan freezes up at the word, eyes wide as he looks at the younger boy.  
  
  
“Xiao Lu, you alright? Is there something on my face? Why are you staring at me like that?”  
  
Luhan shakes his head in a bid to clear the fog in his mind. He finds that he can’t seem to tear his gaze away from Yixing’s face. “Love?” he whispers. “You love Sehun?”  
  
Yixing frowns and throws him a confused expression, a look of incredulity. “Of course I love him. Sehun’s my boyfriend. He wouldn’t be if I didn’t love him. Don’t you love Minseok?”  
  
“Minseok?”  
  
Yixing blinks. “Minseok hyung? Kim Minseok, captain of the football team and your boyfriend of ten months?”  
  
Luhan blinks, looks down at his lap. “Oh, him.”  
  
“Yes, him,” Yixing leans forward and ducks his head, peering up at Luhan. “Don’t you love him?”  
  
“I-I don’t really know?” he says in a small voice. Yixing’s mind reels and his body jerks back, mouth falling open.  
  
  
“I mean, I like him a lot, very much so, don’t get me wrong. And he makes me feel so comfortable; I’m always at ease whenever he’s by my side. But I’m not sure if that’s love. I don’t think so. I don’t know,” Luhan whispers sadly, slowly looking up. “Does that make me a bad person?”  
  
  
Yixing’s heart clenches at how small and vulnerable his usually upbeat and vibrant best friend looks. So he reaches out both arms and takes the older boy in his embrace, hugging the latter close to him. He says nothing but hums a familiar tune softly under his breath. Luhan recognizes it as the Chinese lullaby his grandmother used to sing to him as a child. Closes his eyes. He’s suddenly reminded of Beijing, of home, and Yixing’s arms, Yixing’s warmth comforts him – soothes him. And then oh,  _oh_  – the realization hits him like a ton of bricks.  
  
  
  
Luhan rests his head on Yixing’s chest – hearing the steady _thump thump thump_  of his heartbeat, wraps his arms around Yixing’s waist, wraps himself in Yixing’s intoxicating scent and warmth. “What made you realize that you love Sehun?” he finds himself asking quietly.  
  
Yixing tightens his hold on him and smiles softly. “Everything,” he says clearly, “his smiles and his laughter, the shy and bashful looks he gives me, his determined never say die attitude, his unexpected and unorthodox but nonetheless endearing gestures and behavior. His strong personality. The way he makes me feel so  _so_  happy, the way he completes me.”  
  
Luhan is silent for a minute, taking in his friend’s words with a constricting chest and a clenching heart. A dawning realization – a realization too late. “S-sounds like you really love him a lot.”  _The lucky bastard._  
  
  
  
“I don’t just love Sehun, I’m in love with him. Completely and undeniably in love with him.”  
  
  
  
  
-  
  
  
  
  
  
Luhan sighs softly and is about to say something when Yixing’s phone buzzes to life with a new message. He lifts his head and watches as Yixing reads the message, watches as the boy visibly brightens up at the words on the sceen, watches the heartwarming and at the same time heartbreakingly beautiful smile spread across his face.  
  
  
He pastes a smile on his lips. “Is that the beanpole?”  
  
“Yep, his dance practice class got cancelled so he wants to go catch that new X-men movie,” Yixing replies – casting Luhan a strange look. “How did you know it was him though?”  
  
  
Luhan chuckles lightly. “Your face says it all, pabo-ah,” he pushes himself up and away from Yixing. “You should probably get ready. Don’t want to keep lover boy waiting, do you?”  
  
He tacks on a laugh at the end and prays that it doesn’t sound as fake and forced as he feels. His prayer does not get heard.  
  
Yixing blinks and looks at him worriedly. “I could stay if you want. Sehun will understand, no worries.”  
  
“No, it’s alright, you should go. I – I have to go meet someone as well so yes. Go and enjoy your popcorn and movie.”  
  
The younger boy casts him a final glance before getting to his feet. “Alright then, I’ll be heading out now. Call if you need anything, okay?”  
  
Luhan returns the smile and gives a two-finger salute. “Yes, okay.”  
  
  
He looks on as Yixing turns on his feet, turns away from him, making for the door. His smile slowly slides off.  
  
  
“Luhan,” Yixing pauses in his steps and slowly turns to the older boy ,”Why were you so adamant that I stop seeing Sehun?”  
  
Luhan’s brain spins, desperate to come up with a reasonably logical answer. “I – I was afraid.”  
  
A cocked eyebrow. “Of?”

  
  
Luhan gulps nervously. “I guess I was scared that you’ll forget me because of Sehun and just – I was afraid that you might leave me. For him.”  
  
He looks down in sheer embarrassment and misses the soft look on the younger boy’s face, the gentle smile on his lips.  
  
  
Yixing walks over to him, places two fingers beneath his chin to lift his face up, bends down and presses his lips to Luhan’s forehead.  
  
“你别傻了。我答应，我不会离开你的。我曾经说过我要当你的永远好朋友，还记得吗？” ( Don’t be silly. Don’t you remember the time I promised to be your best friend forever? I won’t leave you, this I promise you.)  
  
  
  
Luhan’s heart beats.  
  
  
  
  
-  
  
  
  
  
“Hello? Minseok? We have to talk. Can you come meet me at the coffee shop across the campus in 30 minutes?”  
  
  
  
-  
  
  
  
  
朋友. 好朋友 .  
  
  
这样.. 应该够了吧.  
  
  
(Friend, good friend. This should be enough. Right?)

  
  
  
  
Luhan sighs as he places Yixing’s guitar carefully on his bed.  
  
  
 _Can we be more? Or is that too much to ask?_

 

  
  
***


End file.
